Introduction

As Grids are emerging as the next-generation computing platform,
the development of Web-based portals that hide low level details of
accessing Grid services for deployment and execution management of
applications is a fast evolving area. Whilst we have seen many web based
portals developed for the grid environment, most interface the low-level
grid middleware. These portals provide an easy to use interface they
miss out on recent developments which have been made at the broker level.
G-Monitor was developed to interface at the Grid Resource Broker (GRB) and
provide the user with the ability to not only monitor, control, and steer
execution of application jobs on Global Grids but to provide functionality
such as Grid level resource discovery, grid economy, scheduling
algorithms based on grid economy.

G-Monitor provides the user with a ubiquitous interface which can be used in
any location to access any broker system the user desires. The user only
needs access to a web browser and with it they are able to fully utilize the
functionality provided by G-Monitor. As G-Monitor is a web-based portal the
user does not have to worry about setting up SSH or exporting X displays,
which can all be made more complicated depending on their firewall settings.

G-Monitor can interact with either the Gridbus or Nimrod G brokers GRB (Grid
Resource Broker). These brokers use low-level services provided by low-level
middleware such as Globus and Legion.

It provides a consistent interface that is easy to use, enabling the
end-user to monitor, control, and steer execution of application jobs
running within the Grid environment. With the use of a
web browser the user is able to fully utilize the functionality of G-Monitor
outlined in the Main feature section. See below:

Main features

Retrieve and set QoS (quality of service) parameters, such as

Deadline, Budget and Optimisation preferences, providing the user with
access to scheduling algorithms that are constrained by specified budget or
duration.

Monitor/Control Jobs Information, such as

Start, Stop, Grid node status and Execution time

Monitor Resource status, such as

Server name, Host name, Service cost and Status

Monitor Experiment status, such as

Deadline, Budget, Job status and Resource status

Multi-User Interface

User login and User preferences relating to available brokers and interface

Real time graphs

Graphs of the experiment progress are provided throughout experiment execution

Start Experiment.

Ability to upload experiment files using the G-Monitor interface and start experiments

Grid Authentication.

Ability to update Grid Authentication, without the need to access the Nimrod Broker